Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Oh No! Another 'Polar Bears are Disappearing' Story

Of course the story is replete with the the word if, since there's zero evidence to support this nonsense and as recent as 2008 there were record numbers of polar bears. But hey, let's play along.
THE polar bear population is falling because of melting sea ice, a study published today has claimed.

The survival of the species across much of the Arctic will be in question if climate change continues at its current rate, said researchers from the University of Alberta.

They predicted that up to 73 percent of pregnant females in the Hudson Bay region will not reproduce if sea ice breakup comes a month early.

"If climate change continues unabated, the viability of the species across much of the Arctic will be in question," said biologist Peter Molner, the paper's lead author.

During ice-free periods, pregnant female bears are less able to hunt for food to build up energy reserves, as they hibernate before giving birth. If they cannot build up proper reserves, the embryo is reabsorbed.
If if if if.

Not will, not is, not conclusive evidence shows.

If.

As in, if these people weren't beholden to research grant money, they would be forced to get real jobs.
The Hudson Bay polar bears are the most southerly population and the first to be affected by global warming, said researchers, but if temperatures continue to rise across the Arctic, most of the polar bear population will be at risk.
OK, they're slipping. Is it climate change or global warming?

5 comments:

Just A Grunt said...

After reading the article I wanted to introduce the author to the word migration. I noticed they avoided talk of the overall polar bear population and instead focused on those in the Hudson Bay area. It just might be possible that the bears moved to happier hunting grounds. Funny how animals do that. If an area gets overpopulated or resources get scarce they simply up and move and suddenly other areas are inudated with stories of 'unexpected' sightings. Most of these studies are based on the false premise that animals set up permanent residence and maintain mailboxes or something.

Yup, just another group looking to keep those taxpayer, probably Canadian taxpayer, dollars flowing.

FrankG said...

"IF I don't publish this eco-alarmism crap, I won't get my grant"

srdem65 said...

Global warming has been happening since the mighty glaciers left the upper Northern states forming the Great Lakes.  So, what's the big deal?

Fooksie said...

http://www.youtube.com/v/MVTHZSXmmGA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140

plainsman844 said...

Climate change has always been used by climatologists along with global warming. What do you think IPCC stands for? Do you think it was originally IPCW? No.

So far, the previous comments here just serve to illuminate the connection between Dunning-Kruger effect and climate-change deniers: http://www.skepticalscience.com/The-Dunning-Kruger-effect-and-the-climate-debate.html